In Our Skin

This powerful verbatim-based theatre production connects the lives of gay men from two diverse cities across the hemisphere – Birmingham, UK and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Celebrated South African born director and playwright, Greg Homann, draws on 50 hours of interviews with 28 participants to create a compelling and often playful new work that captures the energy, resilience, and complexity of what it is like as a gay man living in and around an urban centre today.

The production integrates the verbatim text with video and original music by Birmingham-based composer, Oliver Farrow. A cast of six actor-musicians tell the wide-ranging stories shared across the two cities.

“The aim is to create a kind of conversation about perceptions of sexuality, and about how these perceptions raise social and cultural tension points.” – Greg Homann

Imagre credit: Rachel Bunce, RB Films

Content Warning: This production contains references to content that some audiences may find challenging or upsetting, including violence and sexual language. For further information on the trigger warnings, please email marketing@macbirmingham.co.uk. 

Presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

In Our Skin has been developed under commission from Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), with some additional R&D support from SHOUT, The Market Theatre Lab and GALA Queer Archive in Johannesburg. Special thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their generous financial support. 

Director & Project Creator: Greg Homann
Assistant Director: Frazer Meakin
Composer: Oliver Farrow
Designer: María Sánchez
Accent Coach (Johannesburg): Louise Saint-Claire
Videographer: Steven Gill
Sound Recording (Johannesburg): Morena Medi (courtesy of CMProductions)

CAST

Neville Cann
Clint Lesch
James Blake-Butler
Taoana Tsiki
Sam Butters
Benjamin Armstrong